Stevie Wonder and his son Kwame Morris take both knees onstage during the Global Citizen Festival.

By Kevin Mazur/Getty Images.

After night finally fell on the Global Citizens Festival in New York on Saturday, Stevie Wonder took the stage. The 25-time Grammy winner asked if it was alright to start his show with a prayer, and hearing the affirmative from the tens of thousands of people in the crowd, knelt with a hand from his son, Kwame Morris. When in position, he began: “It is only through life we can make life happen through ourselves and each other. Our global brothers and sisters, I didn’t come here to preach, but I’m telling you, our spirits must be in the right place all the time.” With that, he encouraged to crowd to “interrupt hate, stand down bigotry, condemn sexism, and find love for all of our global brothers and sisters every day.”

He finished his prayer with, “Tonight, I’m taking a knee for America; but not just one knee, I'm taking both knees in prayer for our planet, our future, our leaders of the world and our globe. Amen.”

This pre-performance prayer was perhaps the most direct affront to President Trump out of the long roster of acts tapped to play the festival, which aims to combat poverty issues around the world. Wonder’s gesture came around 24 hours after Trump used a speech in Huntsville, Alabama as an opportunity to criticize Colin Kaepernick and other N.F.L. players who have kneeled to protest of institutional racism during the National Anthem. Stephen Curry and Lebron James were among many athletes who fought back, and by Sunday morning even N.F.L. team owners were condemning the president’s words and reiterating their commitment to free speech.

At the Global Citizen Festival, the critiques were less direct. Though it was held on Central Park’s Great Lawn, just blocks from Trump Tower, the president and his administration was not much of a presence. Like Wonder, few acts mentioned him by name, and fewer even referenced him obliquely—besides Green Day, who regularly insert Trump into lyrics from American Idiot. Adra Day offered a moving cover of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,“ while the screen behind projected the names of a handful of the hundreds of lynchings that have occurred in America. “That song was written 80 years ago by a woman named by Billie Holiday,” she said. “And it’s just has relevant today.” The Chainsmokers took a photo on stage “to keep spreading the inspiration.”

Mostly, though, there was bi-partisan support from senators and congresspeople against the administration’s budget cuts that would slash foreign aid. They were trotted out in person or in pre-taped messages between acts. New York Senator Chuck Schumer took a turn on stage in shorts, bike helmet in hand, to encourage the fight against the newest iteration of the health care bill. Whoopi Goldberg appeared to cheer doctors, who are closing in on a cure for HIV/AIDS with the help of various governments. The fight for ideas and solutions that are bigger than and will outlive a single U.S. president seemed to be the message of the night. But it was helpful to have one galvanizing moment to drive it all home. Wonder’s prayer delivered.

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